Foolish is the Man who Challenges Love
by WishingDreamer5
Summary: Lord Squall Leon Leonhart arranges a ball to choose a suitable lady to marry. However, these things never go as planned and before he knows what hits him, he's signed a horrible contract; if he can manage to live with Cid and his five beautiful daughters for 3 months, he's worthy to marry one of Cid's daughters. If not... Let's just not go there. Will he succeed? -Multiple pairings
1. Smile

**A/N: This is my take on Wishing-Fire's AU Challenge. I can only write 150 words per chapter, so I'm sorry for the shortness. I know I said I'd finish my ongoing stories first, but I just need to write little drabbles, or I'll lose my mind. XD So I thought that this was a good alternative until it's summer vacation. Hope you guys will enjoy this. Mind you, this will have a pairing, but I haven't made up my mind yet about who I'm going to pair up with Squall, so we'll see where the story will take us. :)**

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**1\. Smile**

People often told him that even from the moment he was born, he'd had a dazzling smile. However, the older he got, the less he smiled. Not because it was beaten out of his system. On the contrary; his father, Lord Laguna Loire, was the most cheerful man ever.

If it hadn't been for the fact that father and son looked so much alike, people would've thought that Squall was adopted. They would never say that in front of him, obviously.

Of course, that didn't mean that Squall had a heart of steel (even though sometimes it really looked like it). There were some rare occasions in which he allowed himself to smile and enjoy the moment, even if it was only for a second or two.

Thus, Laguna had taken it upon himself to make his son smile more often. And he'd go _very_ far to achieve this goal…


	2. Eternity

**A/N: To speed up things a little, I'll work with flashbacks when it comes to Squall's childhood.  
**

**Special thanks: melissal58. :)  
**

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**2\. Eternity**

"Over my _dead _body."

Sometimes Squall wondered if his father wanted Squall to hate him for all eternity. If so, he was doing a pretty good job so far.

"But-"

"No! I am not ready to deal with this."

And if this man thought that he was ever going to be ready to throw a party to find a _wife_ (the word alone disgusted him), he was horribly mistaken.

"What's so bad about this? It's how I met your mother too," Laguna said softly.

"Well… I am not you," Squall said, crossing his arms defiantly.

Suddenly, something in Lord Laguna's eyes changed. "Well tough luck then, young man, because you have no choice. I gave you five years to find someone yourself. You failed. There _will _be a ball here by the end of the month, and you _will _find your significant other. End of discussion."

"We'll see about that."


	3. Rivalry

**A/N: Special thanks: :)  
**

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**3\. Rivalry**

Only three days later, the now thoroughly annoyed man got a not so unexpected visit of Radiant Garden's best dressmaker. Because according to Laguna, Squall had to look _absolutely irresistible_ for the upcoming ball. A new outfit would help…apparently.

That man was _evil_.

"You seem like you have a lot on your mind," Aerith the dressmaker noted casually.

Squall made a non-committal sound. She was right, but he didn't know how much he could tell her. They were close friends, but unfortunately, Squall's rival was a good friend of the beautiful Aerith too.

Thinking of Cloud Strife alone was enough to make his blood boil. Honestly, what did that blond Chocobo butthead have that made everyone like him so much?

Squall had finally relented to the idea of throwing a ball on his twenty-fifth birthday, but if Laguna had dared to invite that jerk too, he was out for sure.


	4. Judgement

**A/N: A special thank you to: sdoniczx. :)**

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**4\. Judgement**

The brunet man breathed in through his nose, counted to three in his head, then exhaled slowly, waiting for his father to say something. The moment of judgement was there and Squall didn't like it one bit. For a moment, a hopeful thought crossed his mind briefly; if he looked like crap in this suit (even though he had to admit that Aerith had done a magnificent job), maybe the ball would be canceled.

But then…

"Squall… You look so _handsome_! Don't you agree, Aerith?"

The brunette smiled sweetly at him. "Yes, I do."

_I knew I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up_, Squall thought, but he said nothing.

After giving Aerith a polite nod, he left the room.

Only eighteen days to go till the big day. Maybe a miracle would happen. Maybe he would die before the actual day…

Nah, that was just wishful thinking on his part.


	5. Laughter

**A/N: A special thank you to: shealakiah and PrincessofBadLuck. :)**

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**5\. Laughter**

Every time Squall heard someone's laughter, he imagined that those people were laughing at him and his condition. But even if they were not, it was still rude. How dare they be happy while he had to endure this kind of torment! He'd much rather just switch with one of the staff.

The preparations were almost done too. Only three days left before he'd be forced to choose a partner for life.

He wondered how shocked his father would be if he decided to choose a man, just to spite him. Squall was 100% straight, but some women made him wish he wasn't. Though the brunet man was sure that Laguna would accept him no matter what his sexual preferences were.

When one of his personnel noticed him standing in the room, she stopped laughing at once, trying to look solemn.

…At least someone know how things worked around here.


	6. Tiny

**6\. Tiny**

Last night he dreamed that his clothes that were especially made for the ball had shrunk. It was tiny enough to fit one of Ellone's old china dolls.

Ellone, his sister, was married to a general and lived in Esthar with her husband and children. She would come to the ball too. That was the only thing he was looking forward to.

But he was digressing. He knew that these strange dreams were all caused by his fears for everything that could go wrong tomorrow evening. With only one day to go, it wasn't that strange that he was feeling this way.

If only his mother had still been alive to comfort him, that would have made everything more bearable, if only a tiny bit. Something told Squall that she would have talked Laguna out of this stupid idea too.

But alas, Squall's mother had died after he was born…


	7. If

**A/N: A special thank you to: shealakiah, Guest, and PrincessofBadLuck. :)**

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**7\. If**

_Oh Lord. Please let this be the last woman who wants to dance with me_, he thought, utterly annoyed.

Some birthday this was; he had to dance with all the bachelorettes, much like a punishment. It was all because he had to find someone to have an arranged marriage with. As if that wasn't bad enough already, he had to attend several other balls in the near future.

He hated his life _so much_ right now. If one more pathetic figure dared to stand on his toes, or tell him how handsome he was… someone was going to die tonight.

If only he could be invisible for the rest of the evening. Or at least very ugly. Because he wasn't allowed to decline any offer to dance; that would be too rude for words. Squall felt like trapped rat.

Then, he saw some movement from the corner of his eyes…


	8. Enchantment

**A/N: My apologies for not publishing this chapter sooner.**

**A special thank you to: melissal58hotm, PrincessofBadLuck, and rushninja. :)**

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**8\. Enchantment**

The beautiful young woman who walked down the stairs made his heart skip a beat or two. She was truly enchanting, what with the way the silvery-blue dress hugged her perfect figure. Squall's mouth dropped open in astonishment. Even though this was a masked ball they were holding, it was still evident how beautiful this dark-haired lady was.

When Squall recovered, he started approaching her, hardly aware of what he was doing, and ignoring all the eyes that were following his every move.

"Good evening, Miss. Shall we dance?"

She pursed her red lips, as if weighing the pros and cons, before replying with a simple, "Trust me, I'd love to, but I don't know how to dance."

Squall didn't know what got into him, but before he could stop himself, he said, "I could teach you. It's not that hard."

The young woman took a deep breath. "Well…okay then."


	9. Dancer

**A/N: My apologies for not updating this sooner.**

**A special thank you to: rushninja. :)**

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**9\. Dancer**

He had explained the basic steps to her and to his great surprise, he'd learned that she was a quick learner, especially for someone who had claimed that she couldn't dance. Squall even started to think that maybe she had just lied to him to test him or something.

After all, most women were weird enough to do that.

"You have the lightness of a dancer," Squall noted politely, after a while.

It was true, but it was more the fact that he could still feel everyone's eyes on them that made him say something.

"Oh, thank you."

Soon enough, the dark-haired man started to enjoy himself a bit more. He was too busy to notice the pleased look on his father's face, as he followed his son's every move.

_Now this looks more like it, Squall. About time you started to enjoy yourself. It is your birthday after all._


	10. Excuse

**10\. Excuse**

"I'm sorry, I have to go."

Just like that, she started distancing herself from him, but not before mouthing a quick, "Thank you for the dance!"

For Squall, it felt as if he'd barely spent five minutes with her when she excused herself and disappeared just as mysteriously as she had appeared.

He blinked, looking rather dazed, while wondering what just happened. Everything went too fast for him to comprehend, unfortunately.

He looked around, but was unable to spot her. Squall sighed, trying not to feel too disappointed. Not that he had time to let it sink in; soon enough he saw how another young woman made her way to him.

Time for another dance, one which he knew he wasn't going to enjoy as much as the previous one.

Little did he know that the next time he'd meet the mysterious young woman, he wouldn't be quite as elated…


	11. Inspiration

**11\. Inspiration**

Needless to say, Squall was not the only man who had noticed this mysterious young woman. Many men had called her their inspiration, their muse, even though none of them had seen her face (it had been a masked ball, after all).

Squall found it odd to think of her that way. Sure, the parts of her that had been visible were beautiful, but to call her an inspiration…that went too far.

At that moment, his train of thoughts was interrupted by his father, who seemed happier than ever.

"What got you in such a good mood today?" Squall asked.

"Son, you're never going to believe what I arranged for you! You get to marry one of Cid's daughters! If you succeed, of course."

It felt as though Squall's brains didn't want to process this piece of information.

"You…_what?_" he asked weakly.

And who the hell was this Cid anyway?


	12. Move

**12\. Move**

He just couldn't believe this man. Just when Squall thought that his father had done the most stupid thing he could ever think of, the man in question managed to surprise him by doing something worse.

The brunet man didn't know how he had managed to arranged this, but Squall had no other choice but to sign the damn contract and move in with Lord Cid and his daughters for a few months. Why? Because only this way, he would be able to prove that he was worthy of marrying one of his daughters.

The only reason he hadn't gone berserk yet was because Laguna had told him that the mysterious young woman from the ball was one of Cid's daughters. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to know which one (Lord Cid had five daughters).

Squall didn't have any time to ponder over this, because he had arrived at Cid's castle...


	13. Shades of Grey

**13\. Shades of Grey**

For Squall, things weren't black or white. There were just different shades of grey. The happiest memories of his life were of the lightest grey imaginable. Very close to white, but still not the same when you compared them. After all, how could they be white when his mother wasn't there to enjoy those moments with him?

The bad things that had happened in his life could be described as the kind of grey that was almost black. Not entirely, because Squall knew that things could have been _way_ worse. Losing one parent was horrible, but at least he still had a father and a home. There were enough people who had nothing.

So he thanked the stars every night, for having been luckier than thousands of other unknown faces.

And even though he hated this arranged marriage thing, he still didn't count it as black. At least, not yet…


	14. Burn

**A/N: Hi everyone! I'm sorry for the long wait. I kinda lost interest in this piece, so updates will be very irregular. XD That being said, I would really appreciate it if you could take a look at my new poll. Thanks in advance! ;)**

**Thanks: CommanderofInsanity. :)**

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**14\. Burn  
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"Ow!"

Squall nearly dropped the pan with boiling hot water on the tiled floor. Not that it would have mattered much; half of its contents was wasted anyway when he burned his hand. Good thing there was no one there to witness it, for he had shooed away everyone, including the cooks, wanting to have a private moment.

Or so he thought…

The brunet man froze when he heard his father's hearty laugh behind him. "You know, this is why you should get a wife. You're left alone for ten minutes and look what happens."

His son turned his head to shoot his father a glare that coud have killed Laguna on the spot.

"I'm just saying, being married has its perks too. I for one…would have loved if your mother had still been by my side."

The king's face fell, so Squall decided not to torment his father now.


End file.
